Dan T. Major Explained

Dan T. Major
Birth Date:22 March 1973
Birth Place:Norway
Citizenship:Israeli
Work Institutions:Bar-Ilan University
Doctoral Advisor:Bilha Fischer
Prizes:Krill Prize (Wolf Foundation)

Dr. Dan Thomas Major (Hebrew: דן מאיור; born 22 March 1973) is a Professor of Chemistry at Bar Ilan University specializing in Computational Chemistry.

Biography

Dan Major obtained his Ph.D. from the Chemistry Department at Bar-Ilan University (BIU) in 2003, followed by three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota working with Prof. Jiali Gao.[1] In 2007 he moved to the Chemistry Department at Bar-Ilan University, where he is now a full professor.[2]

Scientific interests and publications

Major's research focuses on computational approaches to chemistry, biochemistry, and nanotechnology.[3] These include the development of simulation methods, a study of enzyme reactions and protein dynamics, understanding natural product synthesis, development of protein-ligand docking programs, in silico design of Li-ion batteries, and fuel cell modeling.He develops classical and quantum simulation methods, and in particular tools for studying enzyme catalysis. This includes the development of path-integral methods for the simulations of zero-point energy and tunneling effects in condensed phase environments,[4] [5] [6] methods for free energy simulations,[7] and novel docking approaches. The simulation tools are typically used in conjunction with hybrid Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) methods and have been applied to a wide range of enzymes. Enzymatic systems studied in his research group include proton and hydride transfer reactions[5] [7] and terpene synthases.[8] [9] [10] [11] Additionally, Prof. Major has carried out numerous studies on physical and electrochemical properties of magnesium and lithium-ion batteries[12] and fuel cells[13] using modern quantum chemistry tools.

Among his awards is Excellence in teaching[14] (2016-2017); Krill Prize[15] of the Wolf Foundation (2009); Alon Fellowship[16] (2008-2010); Fulbright Scholarship (2003-2004); Excellent young scientist from the Israeli Chemical Society[17] (2001).

Personal life

Dan Thomas Major is married to Laura Major, a Ph.D. in English Literature from Bar-Ilan University, who serves as the Head of the English Department at Achva Academic College.[18] They live in Yad Binyamin and have five children.

Notes and References

  1. https://chem.umn.edu/profiles/jiali-gao Jiali Gao, Department of Chemistry University Minnesota
  2. https://ch.biu.ac.il/ Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University
  3. http://www.themajorgroup.org/ Prof. Dan Major group website
  4. Major. Dan Thomas. Gao. Jiali. An Integrated Path Integral and Free-Energy Perturbation−Umbrella Sampling Method for Computing Kinetic Isotope Effects of Chemical Reactions in Solution and in Enzymes. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. 3. 3. 2007. 949–960. 1549-9618. 10.1021/ct600371k. 26627415. 10.1.1.226.3245.
  5. Major. Dan Thomas. Gao. Jiali. A Combined Quantum Mechanical and Molecular Mechanical Study of the Reaction Mechanism and α-Amino Acidity in Alanine Racemase. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 128. 50. 2006. 16345–16357. 0002-7863. 10.1021/ja066334r. 17165790.
  6. Major. D. T.. Heroux. A.. Orville. A. M.. Valley. M. P.. Fitzpatrick. P. F.. Gao. J.. Differential quantum tunneling contributions in nitroalkane oxidase catalyzed and the uncatalyzed proton transfer reaction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106. 49. 2009. 20734–20739. 0027-8424. 10.1073/pnas.0911416106. 19926855. 2791643. 2009PNAS..10620734M. free.
  7. Doron. Dvir. Kohen. Amnon. Major. Dan Thomas. Collective Reaction Coordinate for Hybrid Quantum and Molecular Mechanics Simulations: A Case Study of the Hydride Transfer in Dihydrofolate Reductase. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. 8. 7. 2012. 2484–2496. 1549-9618. 10.1021/ct300235k. 26588977.
  8. Weitman. Michal. Major. Dan Thomas. Challenges Posed to Bornyl Diphosphate Synthase: Diverging Reaction Mechanisms in Monoterpenes. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 132. 18. 2010. 6349–6360. 0002-7863. 10.1021/ja910134x. 20394387.
  9. Major. Dan Thomas. Weitman. Michal. Electrostatically Guided Dynamics—The Root of Fidelity in a Promiscuous Terpene Synthase?. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 134. 47. 2012. 19454–19462. 0002-7863. 10.1021/ja308295p. 23101787.
  10. Driller. Ronja. Janke. Sophie. Fuchs. Monika. Warner. Evelyn. Mhashal. Anil R.. Major. Dan Thomas. Christmann. Mathias. Brück. Thomas. Loll. Bernhard. Towards a comprehensive understanding of the structural dynamics of a bacterial diterpene synthase during catalysis. Nature Communications. 9. 1. 3971. 2018. 2041-1723. 10.1038/s41467-018-06325-8. 30266969. 6162201. 2018NatCo...9.3971D.
  11. Major. Dan Thomas. Complex terpenes in one pot. Nature Catalysis. 1. 8. 2018. 567–568. 2520-1158. 10.1038/s41929-018-0130-5. 104835442.
  12. Major D. . Chakraborty A. . 2018 . Predicting accurate cathode properties of layered oxide materials using the SCAN meta-GGA density functional. npj Computational Materials . 4 . 60 . 10.1038/s41524-018-0117-4 . 1805.00642. 2018npjCM...4...60C . 119100855 .
  13. Kosa. Monica. Levy. Naomi. Elbaz. Lior. Major. Dan Thomas. Theoretical Study of the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Oxygen by Metallocorroles. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 122. 31. 2018. 17686–17694. 1932-7447. 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b05831. 105377968.
  14. https://www1.biu.ac.il/index.php?id=18213&pt=1&pid=11240&level=0&cPath=5,25,1692,11240,18213 Bar-Ilan University Excellence in Teaching, 2017
  15. http://www.wolffund.org.il/index.php?dir=site&page=content&cs=3040&language=eng Krill Prizes for Excellence in Scientific Research
  16. https://che.org.il/?decision=%25D7%259E%25D7%259C%25D7%2592%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2590%25D7%259C%25D7%2595%25D7%259F-%25D7%2590%25D7%2599%25D7%25A9%25D7%2595%25D7%25A8-%25D7%2594%25D7%25AA%25D7%25A7%25D7%25A0%25D7%2595%25D7%259F-%25D7%2595%25D7%2594%25D7%25A8%25D7%259B%25D7%2591%25D7%2599-%25D7%2594%25D7%2595%25D7%2595%25D7%25A2%25D7%2593%25D7%2595 The Council for Higher Education website
  17. http://www.chemistry.org.il/ The Israeli Chemical Society
  18. http://www.achva.ac.il/laura-major Laura Major, English Department Achva Academic College

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